South Shields taxi driver spared jail over death

A TAXI driver has escaped jail after he was convicted of causing the death of a teenage passenger.

A TAXI driver has escaped jail after he was convicted of causing the death of a teenage passenger.

Popular Aaron Todd suffered fatal head injuries when Paul Stephenson, 61, accelerated away from the kerb in the early hours of March 29 last year.

The apprentice joiner and talented footballer was the last of five “boisterous” friends to leave the black Fiat Scudo after Stephenson stopped on Hedworth Lane, Jarrow, South Tyneside, to allow one of them to be sick.

Mr Todd was still on board as Stephenson sped away, and he suffered fatal head injuries as he leapt out.

The teenager, of Kirkstone Avenue, Jarrow, died in hospital six days later.

The driver believed the friends, who had been celebrating a birthday, were trying to “do a runner” to avoid paying the £8.40 fare.

He was convicted of death by careless driving following a trial earlier this month, because he only made a cursory check to see if the teenagers had got out.

He missed the fact that three of them were still on board before he drove off.

The jury was instructed to clear him of death by dangerous driving.

Mr Justice Davis, sitting at Teesside Crown Court, sentenced him to nine months jail, suspended for 18 months. He will have to carry out 150 hours’ unpaid work.

The judge disqualified him from driving for 18 months, effectively ending his taxi-driving career. The judge said the sentencing exercise was “very difficult”.

Stephenson, of St Hilda Street, South Shields, was of good character, did not mean to harm anyone, and had suffered two serious attacks in the course of his work previously.

But he failed to take proper care of his customers, the judge said, and may have acted in anger as well as fear.

The judge said sadly Mr Todd jumped from the vehicle as it moved off.

“That’s what drunk young men do, they sometimes do reckless things,” the judge said. “You as an experienced driver should have known that and should have guarded against it.”

The judge stressed Mr Todd’s friends had no aggressive intent , saying: “They were being boisterous, no more than that.”

Mr Todd’s mother Karen Rutter did not want to comment afterwards.

Christopher Knox, defending, said it was a “momentary misjudgment”.

“It was a short period of time in which he made a decision which was wrong, and there was a tragic consequence,” he said.

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